In Italy more than one oncological surgery out of 4 (equal to 26%) still takes place in facilities that do not reach the so-called threshold volumes, i.e. in clinics where the number of operations performed is too low. However, in 5 years the structures ‘above the threshold’ went from 143,469 in 2017 to 148,491, marking an increase of 3.5%. The new updated map ‘Where do I cure?’, presented today by Ropi (Italian Patient Oncology Network) to the Ministry of Health and elaborated starting from the data from the Agenas 2022 National Results Program.
It is an updated photograph of the Italian health facilities where surgeries are performed for 17 different types of cancer. The aim of the project is to offer patients a simplified and more aware way of getting to know the centers with the highest volume of oncological surgical activity in the Italian regions. In 5 years, from 2017 to 2021, according to the map of Ropi, there has in any case been an 11% reduction in healthcare places where a volume of operations below the threshold is performed, and in the North the threshold is exceeded for several pathologies oncological than in the South. For breast cancer, for example, the threshold value is 150 operations a year. It means that below this number the center is not able to offer the same safety and quality of results. “The choice of the place of treatment – explains Stefania Gori, President of Ropi and of Aigom (Italian Association of Multidisciplinary Oncological Groups) – can make the difference in the treatment of tumors. The data confirm a strong association between higher volumes of surgical activity and better outcomes of cures”.
It is also important to underline, notes Fabrizio Nicolis, Ropi councilor and project coordinator, that “the structures ‘below the threshold’ went from 5,670 in 2017 to 5,018 in 2021.
Consequently, the new map shows good news: an increase in the percentage of interventions performed in structures that exceed the threshold volumes: from 71% in 2017 to 74% in 2021″. The map is online on the Ropi website, www.reteoncologicaropi. en.
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